Automatic regulator for atmospheric car-brakes.



Patented Nov. 6, 900.

No. 656L262.

J. GEORGOFF. AUTOMATIC REGULATOR FOR ATMOSPHERIC OAR BRAKES.

(Aisplication filed July 28, 1900.

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(No Model.)

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No. 6fi|,262. Patented Nov. 6, I900.

J. GEORGOFF.

AUTOMATIC REGULATOR FOB ATMOSPHERIC CAR BRAKES. (Application filed July28, 1900.)

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(No Modal) wd'wedded:

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JORDAN GEORGOFF, OF ST. PETERSBUR 1i, RUSSIA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 661,262, dated November6, 1900.

Application filed July 28, 1900. Serial No. 25,187. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that LJORDAN Gnoneonntechnologist, a subject of the Emperorof Russia, residing at St. Petersburg,in the Russian Empire, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Regulators forAtmospheric Car-Brakes; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and eX- act description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention relates to means for automatically regulating the maximumpressure that shall be exerted on the brake-piston of car-brakes fromthe air from the auxiliary reservoir.

The object of my invention is to provide a device on each car, eitherfreight or passenger, automatically regulated to admit to thebrake-cylinder more or less air, according to the weight of the car andits load.

My device, which acts in the said manner independently of thecircumstance whether the pressure of air in the main air-pipe andauxiliary reservoir is the normal or a greater one, consists, generallystated, in having in the passage from the three-way valve to thebrake-cylinder a valve, preferably a check valve, that can be acted uponby a piston, so that upon a certain maximum pressure, depending upon theload, being attained in the brake-cylinder this valve will operate andclose the passage to the brake-cylinder, preventing any greater brakingforce from being exerted.

My invention consistsjnrther, in such other details of construction andarrangement, separately or in combination, as will be hereinafterdescribed,and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows the lower portion ofacar-body with the usual automatic air-brake apparatus in plan, my newattachment being shown in section. Fig. 2 is a plan view of same. Fig. 3shows the same in a cross-section on line A B of Fig. 1 or A B of Fig.2. Fig. 4. shows a modification of the lever mechanism forming a part ofmy device. Fig. 5 shows my governorvalve-regulating mechanism separatelyin a vertical section 011 line C D of Fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a section ofsame on line E F of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 shows the lower portion of thevalvehousing and piston arranged to operate there in in vertical sectionand turned on ninety degrees in reference to Fig. 5.

In the several views which show an apparatus embodying my invention, Vrepresents the three-way valve employed in the Westinghouse air-brakesystem, H the auxiliary air-reservoir, and S the brake-cylinder, all ofwhich operatein the usualmanner well known in the art. P is a pipe whichconducts the compressed air from the main air-pipe to the three-wayvalve. Interposed between the three-way valve and the said reservoir andcylinder is my improved regulating device R. A suitable housing isconnected between the three-way valve and the auxiliary cylinder orreservoir, which housing has a passage-way b c, 1eading from the saidvalve into the auxiliary cylinder. This passage-wayis curved, as shownin Fig. 5. The housing has another passage-way a (Z, leading from thesaid threeway valve to the pipe Z, that communicates with thebrake-cylinder. In this latter passage-way is arranged a suitable valve,preferably a check-valve in, controlled, as usual, by a spiral spring m,which valve will act when closed to prevent the air from passing intothe brake-cylinder from the three-way valve, but which will open andallow the air to pass out of the brake-cylinder when the pressure isrelieved in the usual manner by the operation of the three-way valve.

To the lower part of the housing is con nected a short cylindric chamber0. also separately on Fig. 6.) This cylinder contains a properly-packedpiston o, secured to a piston-rod 0. Between the piston-rod o and thecheck-valve it is interposed a rod 71., that when the piston is in theupper position serves to retain the check-valve open, but when thepiston isin its lower position allows the check-valve to be seated andclose the passage-way into the brake-cylinder. The rod it may also forma prolongation of the piston rod 0 or be secured rigidly to it. Thelower extremity of the piston-rod 0' is in engagement with one end of adouble-armed lever I, fulcrumed at t' to a brace X, Fig. 3, rigidlysecured to the frame of the car. On'the opposite end of this lever Iacts downwardly a certain pressure determined by the weight of the car.In order to utilize the weight of the (Shown car and its load to act onthe lever I, the latter is coupled by a link T to one end of the curvedlever U, the opposite end of which is pivoted to the joining-pin u ofthe inclined springhanger L, with the link M pivoted to the draw-bolt.Nof the bracket N, rigidly secured to the bottom of the car. On the leverUacts atq apredetermined part of the weight of the car and its load. Ofcourse the pistonrod and piston are forced upwardly, and consequentlythe rod h will retain the checkvalve open. On the other hand, the upperpart of the short cylinder 0 communicates with the passage-way (1through a passageway a. The lower part of this cylinder-i. 6., the spacebelow the piston-communicates to the atmosphere, as shown in Fig. 7.

The operation of my device is as follows: When the three-way valve isclosed, a pressure of air is in the passage-way b c from the auxiliaryreservoir; but there is no pressure in the passage-way a at leading tothe brakecylinder, and therefore no pressure will be exerted through thepassage-way n on the upper surface of the piston 0. Consequently thepiston will be forced upwardly and retained inits upmost position,thussecuringthe checkvalve in the open position by weighted leverI andconnected parts; but when the threeway valve operates to opencommunication from the auxiliary cylinder through the passage-way b c inthe passage-way a d and brakecylinder then a pressure will be exertedthrough the passage-way 92, also on the upper surface of the piston 0,thus providing a force tending to move the piston downwardly. When thepressure in the brake-cylinder in the passage-way a d and in the upperpart of the cylinder 0 attains a certain height, so that the downwardlyacting force will be greater than the counter-pressure of theregulating-lever I, then the piston will be forced to its lower positionand allow the checkvalve 7a to seat itself and to close the passage ofthe air in the brake-cylinder. Upon this pressure in the passage-way abeing relieved by the three-way valve the check-valve 7s will rise, andthus release the air from the brake- .cylinder. Upon the pressure of airthrough the passage-way it thus beinga little diminished the piston 0will again rise and retain the check-valve in the open position, so thatthe air from the brake-cylinder can flow into the atmosphere withouthindrance, and no braking pressure will be retained in thebrake-cylinder. Theattainablebrakingforce of the air in thebrake-cylinder depends upon the pressure of the weighted lever I. Thislever can be weighted in any manner; but to obtain a deviceautomatically regulated by the weight of the car I employ the specifiedlever mechanism I T U, adapted to a car with two or three pairs oftrailing Wheels on separate axles'z'. 6., without trucksthe car havingbow bearing-springs L as shown by Fig. 1. In such a case it is usual toemploy inclined spring-hangers L, one of which is same shown on Fig. 1.The incline of a similar spring-hanger changes under each displacementof the end L of the spring, and with the incline of the spring-hangerschanges evidently also the tension of same, produced by the variablereaction of the spring. Now, as such a displacement of the point L inreference to the car-body may happen for many reasons, (wear and tear ofthe axle-box, &c., substitution of same by a new one, modification inthe attachment of the spring to the axle-box, &c.,) it is necessary toprovide a device which allows to utilize only the vertical componentforce of the spring reaction, because this vertical component of thespring reaction changes only very slightly at every shock of the car inmotion, (the greater the elasticity of the spring the less the alternations of this vertical force,) and represents therefore at any momentthe load on one end of the spring. In order to obtain such effect, Iemploy the said short link M between the inclined spring-hanger L andthe draw-bolt N and arrange the curved lever U so as to retain this linknearly horizontally. In consequence the link M receives the variablehorizontal component force of the spring react-ion,"whereby the verticalcomponent force which sensibly changes for a given car only With theload is transmitted by lever U and link T to the regulating-lever I andacts on the piston-rod 0 in the desired and already specified manner.

On Fig. 4 is shown a simplified device to utilize only the verticalcomponent force of the spring reaction. It consists of a double armedlever W with a horizontal arm 2 w, the same being pivoted at w to thespringbracket Y and coupled at one end to the inclined spring-hanger Zand at the other end to the regulating-lever by means of a link.

The proportions of the parts of my regulating device should be of courseso regulated that under the normal pressure in the auxiliary reservoirthe maximum load of the car will be just sufficient to secure the piston0 continuously in its highest position, (shown onFigs.1,5,and 7,) thusallowing to admit into the brake-cylinder the maximum determinedpressure proper for such load in the usual manner. Of course when thepressure in the auxiliary reservoir is for any reason greater than usualthe check-valve will nevertheless be seated at a braking pressure equalto the normal pressure in the auxiliary reservoir and main air-pipe.

I would have it understood that the essential part of my invention is acasing or housing with the check-valve, cylindric chamber, means forcommunicating the same with the brake-cylinder,and piston working in thesaid chamber and that the described lever mechanism which serves totransmit a definite part of the weight of the car and its load to act onthe piston-rod of said piston may be varied at pleasure withoutdeparting from the spirit and purpose of my invention. I

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would also remark that my device B may be mounted on the car-bodyseparately from the three-Way valve, auxiliary reservoir, andbrake-cylinder and may be in such case set in communication with theseparts of the braking mechanism by means of suitable flexible tubes orotherwise.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination in a car-brake with means for communication betweenthe threeway valve and the auxiliary reservoir, and means forcommunication between the threeway valve and the brake-cylinder, ofmeans for restricting the said means of communication with the brakecylinder, means for' closing said restricting means by a predeterminedpressure in the brake-cylinder, a link interposed between the car-bodyand the end of a bow-spring supporting said car-body,and means forcausing said link to retain said restricting means in the open position.

2. The combination in a car-brake with means for communication betweenthe threeway valve and the auxiliary reservoir, and means forcommunication between the threeway valve and the brake-cylinder, of acheck valve located in said latter communication and arranged to beclosed by the air flowing from the auxiliary reservoir'into thebrakecylinder, a cylinder, a piston working in said cylinder and connected with said check-valve, means of communication between the saidlatter cylinder and said brake-cylinder for admitting air from thebrake-cylinder to act on one side of said piston and cause it to movesaid check-valve to its closed position, and means for causing theweight of the carbody to act on said piston and check-valve and movethem to open said check-valve.

3. The combination of a housing having two separate passages leadingtherethrough, a check-valve located in one of said passages, a cylinderconnected with said housing, a piston working in said cylinder, a rodinterposed between said piston and said checkvalve, said housing havinga passageway communicating the said passage-way containing thecheck-valve with one end of said cylinder, said cylinder having apassage-way communicating its other end with the atmosphere, apiston'rod attached to said piston, a leverimpinging on said piston-rod,and means for operating said lever from the weight of the car-body.

4. The combination in a car-brake, with means for communication betweenthe threeway valve and the auxiliary reservoir, and

means for communication between the threeway valve and brake-cylinder,of means for restricting said means of communication with thebrake-cylinder, means for closing said restricting means by thepredetermined pressure in the brake-cylinder, a link interposed betweenthe car-body and the end of a bowspring supporting the car-body, a leverfulcrnmed on the car-body and having one end connected with said link,and means connect= ing the other end of said lever with said restricting means for causing the depression of said lever by the car-bodyto retain the re-' stricting means in the open position.

5. The combination in a car-brake, with means for communication betweenthe threeway valve and the auxiliary reservoir and means forcommunication between the threeway valve and the brake-cylinder, ofmeans for restricting said means of communication with thebrake-cylinder, means for closing said restricting means by apredetermined pressure in the brake-cylinder, a link interposed betweenthe car-body and the end of a bow-spring supporting the car-body, meansfor moving the point of attachment of said link with the car-body in adirection toward and from said end of the bow-spring, a lever fulcrumedon the car-body and having one end connected with said link, and meansconmeeting the other end of said lever with said restricting means forcausing the depression of said lever by the car-body to retain therestricting means in the open position.

6. The combination in a car-brake, with means for communication betweenthe threeway valve and the auxiliary reservoir, and means forcommunication between the said three-Way valve and the brake-cylinder,of means for restricting the said means of communication with thebrake-cylinder, a cylindric chamber, means for communication at one endof said chamber with the brake-cylinder, a piston working in said.cylindric chamber, a rod attached to said piston, means for causing saidpiston to operate said restricting means, a double-armedregulating-lever, one end of which engages said piston-rod whereas theother end is coupled by a link to a lever interposed between thecar-body and a bow bearing-spring and pivoted to the joining-pin of thelinks of the spring-hangers.

. In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

JORDAN GEORGOFF.

Witnesses:

E. VEKENTIEFF, W. HEININGER.

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